windows installation issue

smrgolfer

Born

Posts: 1

Loc: Rochester, NY

3+ Months Ago

I'm reinstalling Windows for my Uncle. He didn't have his Windows CD, but had his key on the side of the computer (only benefit to buying your computer at a retail location). I popped in my handy Windows XP Home CD, and went to work. When it came time to put in the serial number, I got an error message. The code indicated the wrong version of windows. Low and behold, he had XP Pro and I didn't realize it.

So now I've got a problem. I'm stuck in the Windows XP Home installation screen with no XP Home key and no way that I can find to cancel. I've tried the following:

1. Just popped the XP Pro CD in. Yeah, right, like that was going to work.
2. Did a hard reboot - just takes you back to same screen. I did that reboot with the XP Pro CD in hoping something might catch, no luck.
3. Hit the "Back" button as far as I could in hopes of finding a way to cancel, no such luck.

Any ideas? Please?!?

JrzyCrim

Mastermind

Posts: 2062

3+ Months Ago

Go into your bios and make sure the CD-ROM is selected as the first boot device. Put in the XP-Pro CD and boot the computer from the CD. It should prompt you to 'Press any key to boot from CD'. Once set up loads, choose the partition on which Home was originally being installed. Reformat that partition and let setup continue on its merry way.